Jamie:

Thanks for this extensive reply . . . !!

Speaking as someone who has been deeply involved with China for 20+  
years (first went there in 1997), there is *zero* chance that they  
will be "cooperating" with the West.  A snowball in hell would have a  
better chance . . . <g>

Btw, ironically, Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was written on behalf  
of his *socialism* (and against James Burnham's "managerial elite,"  
which, in turn, came out of the only detailed analysis of a  
technology's impact on society, the Rockefeller Radio Research  
Project) -- in a world where the only group of a billion+ people who  
call themselves "socialist" are the Chinese.

Eschatology is the theological expression of what has been called  
*final* cause (yes, there's some material in the archives of this list  
that you might enjoy on all this) and it is "uniquely" relevant among  
those cultures which cluster around the Bible: Christian, Jewish and  
Islamic.  For those cultures standing on different "ground," it makes  
no sense at all.

I appreciate that you have introduced the "so where does all this take  
us?" question to the list (which is quintessentially Western, as are  
we) and I'm hoping that others will have something to say about its  
relevance to the development of the "Theory of Knowledge."

Mark

P.S. Have you been following the activity of the "Cultural Evolution  
Society" (and are you, or anyone else on this list, planning to attend  
their upcoming conference in Tucson this October) . . . ??

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.eiseverywhere.com_ehome_index.php-3Feventid-3D304380-26&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=hBWuY4IyN44ds_WTVlXGFW51zPt3MUqmvLxDvs1loN8&s=OKDrup_sbA1719S4IBmZy_Kb5GIBOa5y4YTV3HKP6Ys&e=

Quoting Mathew Jamie Dunbaugh <[log in to unmask]>:

> Mark,
>
> Yes, all cultures are not the same. Some cultures are far more effective at
> various things, such as discerning what's true, innovating, maintaining the
> well-being of their members, and cooperating. Generally speaking, cultures
> that cooperate more effectively outcompete cultures that cooperate less
> effectively, leading to the radiation around the globe of cultures that
> cooperate, trending synergistically with many other trends in the direction
> of global cooperation.
>
> Where did you find the word "linear" referring to the left hemisphere and
> "cyclic" referring to the right hemisphere? I haven't read the book you
> referenced but I know a good amount of psychology and neuroscience, and the
> statement in the book's description is more accurate: "the left hemisphere
> is detail oriented, while the right has greater breadth, flexibility, and
> generosity."
> In my understanding, language is based in the left hemisphere.
>
> I don't see how linear thinking leads to the belief in the Omega point. And
> because the right brain is better at noticing large-scale patterns, it
> would seem that the right brain would be a more likely candidate to notice
> the constant, accelerating trend throughout evolution towards greater
> complexity and integration. The left hemisphere is more step-by-step and
> narrow.
>
> One need not believe in some eschatology to believe in this trend.
> Although, the trend does imply that there will eventually be global
> integration and cooperation. Eschatology is only a matter of perspective.
> It's always both the end and beginning of something, but there are major
> transitions, revolutions and such.
>
> Consider reading this excellent article that spells out how constant this
> trend has been, and the forces behind it:
> The Direction of Evolution: The Rise of Cooperative Organization
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S030326471400080X&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=R7DDkBZ9hwYEbC9grplg9XMQOnZl2tHLh6k34R-cftk&s=Udfs1l1LCYy1DHmxlapu6qdKsfF-SklXnsTyIexqKbI&e=
>
> " Two great trends are evident in the evolution of life on Earth: towards
> increasing diversification and towards increasing integration.
> Diversification has spread living processes across the planet,
> progressively increasing the range of environments and free energy sources
> exploited by life. Integration has proceeded through a stepwise process in
> which living entities at one level are integrated into cooperative groups
> that become larger-scale entities at the next level, and so on, producing
> cooperative organizations of increasing scale (for example, cooperative
> groups of simple cells gave rise to the more complex eukaryote cells,
> groups of these gave rise to multi-cellular organisms, and cooperative
> groups of these organisms produced animal societies). The trend towards
> increasing integration has continued during human evolution with the
> progressive increase in the scale of human groups and societies. The trends
> towards increasing diversification and integration are both driven by
> selection. An understanding of the trajectory and causal drivers of the
> trends suggests that they are likely to culminate in the emergence of a
> global entity. This entity would emerge from the integration of the living
> processes, matter, energy and technology of the planet into a global
> cooperative organization. Such an integration of the results of previous
> diversifications would enable the global entity to exploit the widest
> possible range of resources across the varied circumstances of the planet.
> This paper demonstrates that it's case for directionality meets the tests
> and criticisms that have proven fatal to previous claims for directionality
> in evolution."
>
> It's also a generally observable trend that humanity has been gradually
> learning more about what is true and what works, and that this trend has
> been accelerating.
>  And "what works" is basically a pragmatic version of the truth. And it
> only makes sense that if there are universally shared interests then we
> would eventually discover that it's in our best interest to cooperate, and
> the means of cooperating.
>
> We can also observe that there are many contemporary forces conspiring to
> create global cooperation:
>
> 1) Existential threats from emerging technologies can only be dealt with by
> global cooperation.
> 2) Natural existential threats like climate change can only be dealt with
> by global cooperation
> 3) Shared moral values based in human dignity and whatever rules form the
> basis of subjective well-being can be discovered and converged upon by
> everyone with enough time.
> 4) The desire to steer our own evolution is only possible with global
> cooperation. We have an interest in escaping biological natural selection,
> and that's what culture has been doing since the beginning. There's no
> reason this interest will dissapear, so if global cooperation is possibly,
> it's likely.
> "Reining in evolution is a feat that could only be accomplished by a
> singleton.  A local power might be able to control the evolution of its own
> internal ecology, yet unless these interventions served to maximize its
> total productivity (which would be incompatible with affirmative action for
> eudaemonic activities), evolutionary selection would simply reemerge at a
> higher level.  Those powers that opted to maximize their economic rather
> than their eudaemonic productivity would outperform rival powers that were
> less single-mindedly fixated on advancing their competitive situation, and
> in the long run the eudaemonic powers would become marginalized or extinct
> or would be forced to rescind their eudaemonic policies.  In this context,
> the “long run” may actually be quite short, especially in the uploading
> scenario where reproduction could be extremely rapid.  Moreover, if the
> eudaemonic powers could anticipate that they would be outcompeted if they
> continued with their eudaemonic activities, they may decide to scale back
> on such activities even before they were overrun by the non-eudaemonic
> powers.  Such anticipatory effects could produce immediate manifestations
> of evolutionary developments that would otherwise take a long time to
> unfold.  The upshot, in either case, would be a tremendous loss of
> eudaemonic potential.
>
>
>
> A singleton could prevent this unfortunate outcome by promoting eudaemonic
> types and activities within its own jurisdiction. [23]
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nickbostrom.com_fut_evolution.html-23-5Fftn23&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=R7DDkBZ9hwYEbC9grplg9XMQOnZl2tHLh6k34R-cftk&s=INRNDrHGTILK2yex5pFsLSm4-pS1e3vESXr2EZZSJBg&e=> Since a singleton  
> would
> lack external competitors, there would be no higher level at which
> evolutionary selection could gain foothold and start penalizing the
> singleton’s policy of non-maximization of economic productivity.
>
>
>
> A singleton need not be a monolith (except in the trivial sense that has
> some kind of mechanism or decision procedure that enables it to solve
> internal coordination problems).  There are many possible singleton
> constitutions: a singleton could be a democratic world government, a
> benevolent and overwhelmingly powerful superintelligent machine, a world
> dictatorship, a stable alliance of leading powers, or even something as
> abstract as a generally diffused moral code that included provisions for
> ensuring its own stability and enforcement. [24]
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nickbostrom.com_fut_evolution.html-23-5Fftn24&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=R7DDkBZ9hwYEbC9grplg9XMQOnZl2tHLh6k34R-cftk&s=OZc9FYQy_IEYqNC8tXzKJsVauhU_0OWlbInqDcCdNuo&e=> A singleton could be  
> a
> rather minimalist structure that could operate without significantly
> disrupting the lives of its inhabitants.  And it need not prohibit novelty
> and experimentation, since it would retain the capacity to intervene at a
> later stage to protect its constitution if some developments turned
> malignant."
>
>
>  - Nick Bostrom, The Future of Human Evolution
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nickbostrom.com_fut_evolution.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=R7DDkBZ9hwYEbC9grplg9XMQOnZl2tHLh6k34R-cftk&s=OkGA_KrddBwen_WO8cknrYQOFhSASmEMIWLVzCGAsuo&e=
>
> 5) Increasing transparency and powers of surveillance create room for a
> singleton to take over.
> 6) The following trends all work synergistically as part of the general
> trend towards increasing complexity and integration
>
>
>    1.
>
>    Memetic Flourishing (memes are the stuff of culture: ideas, reproducing
>    behaviors, symbols, and perhaps technologies depending on your definition
>    of memes)
>    1.
>
>          Transparency (creates a demand for revealed intentions / whether
>          or not someone is a friend or foe, thus increases means of  
> cooperation)
>          2.
>
>          Richness and Amount of Communication (global argument about what's
>          true and right, gradually leading to a resolution of collective
>          understanding)
>          3.
>
>          Capacity to Learn and Change Behavior (more likely to discover
>          pragmatic truth and means of cooperation)
>          2.
>
>    Refinement of Culture and Consciousness by Justification
>    1.
>
>       The Decline of Violence
>       2.
>
>       Justice and the Moral Arc
>       3.
>
>       Domestication and Pacification
>       4.
>
>       Self-control
>       5.
>
>       Progress towards universal trust enabled by universal understanding.
>       6.
>
>       Dominance of the Leviathan (monopoly on violence)
>       7.
>
>       Commerce, Commodification and perhaps sharing - Increasing Resolution
>       of Exchanged Value
>       8.
>
>       Interconnectivity and transportation
>       9.
>
>       The Escalator of Reason
>       10.
>
>       The Expanding Circle of Compassion
>       11.
>
>       Stratification of the Dominance Hierarchy
>       1.
>
>             Inequality?
>
>
> 7) The ongoing trend of philosophy and science leads to an increasing means
> of shared understanding and cooperation.
> 8) The construction of the web/technium is intrinsically a consensual
> effort of shared values requiring that we build in universal values.
>
>
> Russia is a mafia state and China is 1984. China is indeed gaining power,
> but it might be the case that China is more interested in global
> cooperation than conflict. It even seems that competition is falling into a
> cooperative framework. Instead of trying to kill one another, we compete
> around shared values and interests.
>
> China might have historically had a belief in cyclical evolution, like
> India, but this trend towards complexity and integration has been constant.
> We can observe that all the constant trends work synergistically within
> this general trend, and there are various contemporary forces pushing in
> the direction of global cooperation. A cyclical view of evolution is
> clearly false in the large scale, even if it's true in local times and
> places. And hey, what do we know, perhaps in the really long run, this
> trend and a cyclical view are both true. There are various ways of
> justifying this position. (Big Bang / Big Crunch or Simulation Hypothesis).
>
> Even President Obama talks about how the world is connecting more and more.
> I'd bet that more educated and informed world leaders know this trend will
> continue.
>
> Personally, I think that wealthy, imperfect, private powers will be the
> initial step towards a Singleton through dominance over the web. I don't
> think the Singleton is Jesus Christ. The Singleton could perhaps be an
> increasing convergence of global norms being built into the technium. A
> Singleton doesn't mean that there won't varying power between nations.
>
> Another force pushing in this direction is that we have to build in
> absolute, precise values into the technium. There's not really any room for
> ambiguity for technology. The construction of the technium will HAVE to be
> a cooperative enterprise.
>
> On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 3:18 AM, Mark Stahlman <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> ToKers:
>>
>> A hundred years ago, Oswald Spengler published the first volume of his
>> "Decline of the West" (in German, subtitled "Form and Actuality") and, in
>> many ways, we've all been writing replies to him since (including
>> hereabouts of late) . . . <g>
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Decline-2DWest-2DActuality-2DPerspectives-2DWorld-
>> 2DHistory_dp_B0016511PQ&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4
>> uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgj
>> O2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=
>> qSvmHi-t8kzIdo8ZyajoqEjj0xur0obamaQFRopF9JI&e=
>>
>> Arnold Toynbee picked up the ball on behalf of the West (in particular,
>> the British Empire) and spent his life writing his multi-volume "A Study of
>> History."  He was followed by Carroll Quigley (mentor to Bill Clinton at
>> Georgetown, who wrote "Tragedy and Hope" &c) and Sam Huntington (with whom
>> my partner at the Center studied at Harvard.)  Henry Kissinger even wrote
>> his undergraduate thesis at Harvard on Spengler and T. Adorno, father of
>> Social Psychology, wrote an important essay on the topic (scans available
>> to anyone who is interested.)
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Clash-2DCivilizations-2DRemaking-2DWorld-2DOrder_dp_
>> 1451628978&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_
>> 5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=
>> dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=iaQ9RLjjBol5T_
>> HiAZB98AAUEeoSb3ISr8eZDpiwrRs&e=
>>
>> What they all recognized, however, is that the West isn't the only
>> game-in-town.  In particular, Spengler thought that Russia would overtake
>> Europe and that, ultimately, China would overtake them all.  My partner
>> spends half his life in Beijing (and I'll likely be heading there in a few
>> weeks to speak at the World Congress of Philosophy.)  For the Chinese,
>> Teilhard's "omega point" and Kevin's "technium" would make no sense --
>> since they have a fundamentally different understanding of history.
>>
>> Teilhard was a "renegade" Jesuit priest.  His "heresy" is an old one that
>> the Catholic Church has been dealing with for a long time.  Just take a
>> look at Joachim de Fiore, if you need a 12th-century refresher.  Eric
>> Voegelin called it "immanentizing the Eschaton" in his Walgreen lecture,
>> "The New Science of Politics" (which then led to Marshall McLuhan striking
>> up a correspondence with him on the topic of *gnosticism*).  Teilhard was
>> in a hurry-to-get-outta-here, a trait that he shared with many who took LSD
>> -- which is uniquely a drug of psychic death-an-rebirth (for which I am the
>> "alternate" historian.)
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_New-2DScience-2DPolitics-2DIntroduction-2DFoundation
>> _dp_0226861147&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_
>> 5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=
>> dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=Nl1qC4m6KxvqfP
>> Av50NVY-b7wmt8_eTLiYoJDyfSojc&e=
>>
>> Kevin Kelly is a protege of Stewart Brand, the organizer of the "Trips
>> Festivals" where the Grateful Dead played and which Tom Wolfe (who
>> "discovered" Marshall McLuhan in the mid-1960s) described as "The Electric
>> Kool-Aid Acid Tests."  Lots of LSD was involved.  Lots of psychic "decline
>> and re-birth."  Reminding us that LSD is the *quintessential* Western drug
>> -- tracing its origins back to the Eleusinian Mysteries (c. 700BC-400AD),
>> around which Athenian culture was organized.  Yes, that's the "subtext" to
>> everything in Plato, for instance (but not Aristotle.)
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Road-2DEleusis-2DUnveiling-2DSecret-2DMysteries_dp_
>> 1556437528&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_
>> 5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=
>> dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=c123YQcXkcX1-A
>> n6vS6dzxKU2WEm5f_ATGuEGTwOKS4&e=
>>
>> Brand -- about whom a friend of mine, John Markoff (ex-New York Times), is
>> now writing the "offical" biography -- brought Kevin in to edit the
>> "Co-Evolution Quarterly" and later "Wired" magazine (for which I tried to
>> provide early financing.)  Kevin is a "born-again" Christian who is keen
>> for the 2nd Coming (along with Teilhard) -- who has detailed his views in a
>> fascinating "comic book" titled "The Silver Cord" (in which humans turn
>> into angels to "fight the devil.")
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Silver-2DCord-2DKevin-2DKelly_dp_1940689015&d=
>> DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1I
>> XYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl
>> _ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=5daPt7Alh8EfcRsG8t2c-C_MdfbIoIeCt2pA5_Imcew&e=
>>
>> This "linear" view of history -- culminating in the "end of history" and
>> its replacement with "truth" (aka Jesus Christ) -- became the Protestant
>> goal with the invention of the Printing Press.  As a *paradigm*, PRINT (or
>> what McLuhan called the "Gutenberg Galaxy") was incredibly "linear."  One
>> letter-after-another on the page.  Mechanically reproduced.  Copy after
>> copy.  Onward-and-upward.  Marching to the *promised* land (just like the
>> Book of Revelation, which is behind both Teilhard's and Kevin's fantastic
>> stories, told us it would) . . . !!
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Gutenberg-2DGalaxy-2DMarshall-2DMcLuhan_dp_144261269
>> X&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=H
>> Po1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9ln
>> uLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=ONoLLFnLtaG5oyuQD5jwszhWpAAb
>> 7Nh-9lMKFSPOTiY&e=
>>
>> This "linearity" is, some might suggest, the result of an over-development
>> of the brain's *left* hemisphere.  While much of the popular material about
>> left/right is overblown (or just wrong), Ian McGilchrist has put what is
>> actually known together in his 20-year effort, "The Master and His
>> Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World."  In it he
>> summarized the difference between the two hemispheres as "linear" (left)
>> and "circular" (right) and how (but not why) the "left" dominates in the
>> West.
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Master-2DHis-2DEmissary-2DDivided-2DWestern_dp_
>> 0300188374&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_
>> 5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=
>> dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=MhkTRL-tLu0DD6
>> Ic6yGOmlVkk-tnK1HVRMb3wPUO4gg&e=
>>
>> If the West is "linear" (resulting in "omega points" &c), then the East is
>> "circular."  We believe that this is largely a result of the different
>> *writing* systems used in the East and West.  Ideo/pictographs are
>> "pictures" and learning to use them to communicate is likely a
>> "right-brain" task -- begun at early childhood.  On the other hand, the
>> Alphabet (invented by my ancestors in Phoenecian to conduct trade across
>> the Mediterranean) is only phoentics, with no meaning attached to any of
>> the symbols.  As a result, the East has a "circular" understanding of
>> history, whereas the West thinks in terms of "end points."
>>
>> Teilhard de Chardin and Kevin Kelly are both "eschatologists."  They point
>> to the "end of history" because that's what their left-brains tell them to
>> do, as a result of the culture in which they live, as a result of the
>> communications technologies that formed that culture.  But eschatology
>> makes no sense in "right-brained" China.
>>
>> Instead, the Chinese think of themselves as riding a 720-year
>> "roller-coaster."  Taking their 60-year annual cycle and multiplying it by
>> 12, they get the Chinese "grand cycle" of roughly 700 years and they are
>> convinced that they will reach the next "peak" in the 22nd-century.  Going
>> backwards, they believe that the previous peaks were in the Ming (roughly
>> 1500AD), T'ang (roughly 800) and Han (roughly 100) dynasties (and some
>> would go back to C'hu, roughly 600BC and beyond to Shang &c.)  One way to
>> get a glimpse of all this would be to study Joseph Needham's multi-volume
>> "Science and Civilization in China" (with particular interest in his focus
>> on the role of Daoism in Chinese history.)
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ama
>> zon.com_Science-2DCivilisation-2DChina-2DIntroductory-
>> 2DOrientations_dp_052105799X&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vC
>> I4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYB
>> gjO2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=O
>> qadsucKkkOaN7FJqfbkrgiZMaN5Ydu4GSZrkDNVJzs&e=
>>
>> As a result of all this, any cultural/psychological "Theory of Everything"
>> must account for the differences between East and West -- while dealing
>> with underlying technologies that have generated these differences.  As it
>> turns out, all "cultures" are *not* the same (yes, there are also many
>> others.)  Hypothesizing an "omega point" is fine if you are a Westerner
>> under the influence of Christian "revelation" but that's *not* the way most
>> people on earth think nowadays.  Yes, the "eschaton" is an answer to
>> Spengler's questions (which, as you recall, were first posed by F.
>> Nietzsche, who was supposed to become a Lutheran minister) but not everyone
>> thinks those are the most important questions for us to answer today . . .
>> !!
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> P.S. As best we can tell, the only "elite" who did not take LSD in the
>> 1960s were the Chinese.  The Russians did it.  The Japanese did it.  But
>> not the Chinese.  In fact, it appears that the "Great Wall of China" was
>> built to keep central-Asian "shamanic" culture -- based on taking
>> hallucinogenic mushrooms -- out of China and some believe that the Chinese
>> hostility to India is also based on the Indian use of hallucinogens in
>> their "holy books."  Instead of wanting to "die" so that you can be
>> "reborn" (into a transformed world), Chinese *alchemy* was dedicated to
>> "elixirs of immortality" which would allow them to stay alive from one
>> cyclical peak to another.
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wiki
>> pedia.org_wiki_Shamanism&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4
>> uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgj
>> O2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&s=7DH
>> 7v09kkrNaePvx5IE1I-a8dXg6bkKGOPEovB4dsnY&e=
>>
>> P.P.S.  The Russians supplied most of the world's LSD from c. 1965-75,
>> fueling the "counter-culture" in what they thought of as "chemical warfare"
>> against the "West" in the Cold War.  The goal was to "disorient" Western
>> youth and, in the process, strengthen the Soviet Union.  Initially,
>> pharmaceutical LSD was manufactured under KGB supervision at Spofa in
>> Prague and then they transitioned to supplying the ergotamine precursor for
>> the "underground" labs.  Teilhard was very popular among the "hippies" and
>> I think that I bought my first copy of "The Phenomenon of Man" c. 1967 --
>> the same year I drove non-stop to Haight Ashbury for the "Summer of Love,"
>> where I saw Jim Morrison sing his iconic "This is the End (the West is the
>> best.)"  Btw, "blue bus" is a metaphor for Czech LSD, since Spofa put it in
>> a ampule where the liquid was colored blue.
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.you
>> tube.com_watch-3Fv-3DJSUIQgEVDM4&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb
>> 7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-j
>> IYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=dQjvVyd66RVv9lnuLMl_ICT6rs_lZWF01AxlpdAYsrw&
>> s=nj7XX2WD1VRo3ZVCxB4hz4xG2picaGAwBcZPdKc7MVQ&e=
>>
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